An Exposition on the Book of James Part 21
If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series. The ideas of the book of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.
I am not sure if you can remember the feeling that you got the last time you told a lie. If you can remember the last time you lied, can you remember the reason for it? I am very strict on lying with my children. Usually, they try to lie to get out of trouble. It is usually very easy to tell when a child is lying, but I don’t correct unless I know for certain that they have lied. If I catch them lying it is double the punishment, however, there are many times that if they confess and tell me the truth there is no punishment. I want to make sure that my children place a high value on truth, because our heavenly father places a high value on truth. He is truth.
I believe that sums up this verse in James chapter 5. James is trying to make us understand that God doesn’t want us misrepresenting his character by flippantly swearing oaths. An oath is basically a promise and if you promise something and don’t follow through than it is pretty much a lie. Every contract we sign, every tax return we submit, every time we sign a receipt at the grocery store, we are signing a pledge or something like it. Does the Bible condemn that?
While it is possible that James is saying never to swear an oath (including signing pledges and promisses), as some do now believe is sinful, it is more likely – given the context of James as a whole – that he is saying not to bind yourself with an oath to preform. There is a difference. The first includes oaths of honesty, as affidavits and oaths of office which state that the information you are in agreement with and will do you utmost to preform. The second one excludes this type of promise and is limited to performance of others and circumstances. For instance, when you take a note out on your house you promise- or swear – to pay it back. To Jame’s point, you do not know what will happen so you should not swear to this. You can agree by saying yes or no, but by swearing you are placing in faith in your circumstances instead of God.
It all relates back to faith. Who are you trusting in. A person that trusts in self will believe that that have all the answers and will not mind swearing. But one who knows that only God is in control will be caution about what he agrees to, I think most Christians, myself included, need to be more cautious about what we subscribe to and what promises we make – often without knowing we have made a promise at all.
God cannot lie, and he can never break a promise.
James 5:12 KJV
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
S. T.
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me..."
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